Batman Returns FAQ v1.0 written by Joshua Harring (harring@student.umass.edu) on 9/4/99 Table of contents I. Intro II. Controls III. Batman's Moves IV. Walkthru V. Disclaimer I. Intro Hello and welcome to my FAQ for Batman Returns for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Batman Returns is a beat-'em-up action game similar to Final Fight, and is based on the movie of the same name. Batman Returns features excellent graphics, sound effects, and music, even today, five years after its initial release. If you enjoy this type of action game and still have a SNES, I highly recommend picking up this game at a used video game place like FuncoLand. It retails for less than $10 these days. This FAQ can only be used with the Super Nintendo version of Batman Returns. Although there are many games called Batman Returns for other platforms, the Super Nintendo version is unique among them, and therefore this FAQ will not be useful for the games on other platforms. Even though the NES version of Batman Returns is the most similar to this version, there are still enough differences for it to warrant its own separate FAQ. This game features two different types of action scenes. The first scene looks and feels very similar to games like Final Fight. I will refer to this as the "3D Action Scene". The other scene looks and feels like a platform-style action game. The gameplay here is different from the 3D Action Scenes. I will refer to this scene as the 2D Action Scene. There is also a unique level where Batman is racing along in his Batmobile. In this level, Batman is moving forward, into the screen. This scene has its own separate controls as well. I will refer to this as the Batmobile Scene. II. Controls This will be helpful for anyone who doesn't know which button does what (handy if you don't have any documentation for this game). Directional Pad --------------- 3D action scene: Batman moves in any of eight directions along the ground. 2D action scene: Batman moves left and right, and also crouches. Batmobile scene: The Batmobile moves left and right along the street. A Button -------- 3D action scene: Batman uses his Grappling Hook, which unfortunately has little use in these scenes. 2D action scene: Batman again uses his Grappling Hook, which can latch onto the ceiling or the bottom of a platform, and he can pull himself across large gaps by using it repeatedly. Batmobile scene: No use. B Button -------- 3D action scene: Batman jumps. 2D action scene: Batman jumps. Batmobile scene: No use. X Button -------- 3D action scene: When combined with either the L or R buttons, Batman throws a Test Tube which kills or damages all onscreen enemies. 2D action scene: When combined with either the L or R buttons, Batman throws a Test Tube which kills or damages all onscreen enemies. Batmobile scene: No use. Y Button -------- 3D action scene: This is the basic attack button. Depending upon what particular stance Batman is in (i.e. standing, jumping, grabbing someone), this button performs a particular move. I'll outline those moves in just a moment. 2D action scene: If Batman is close to an enemy, he punches. If he is far away, he throws a Batarang (which doesn't return to him). Batmobile scene: This button fires discs straight out ahead of the Batmobile with which to kill enemy bikers. L and R Buttons --------------- 3D action scene: These buttons cause Batman to put his arm up to block an attack. Batman takes minor damage from blocking, but less than he would had he taken the attack without blocking. 2D action scene: Same as the 3D action scene, Batman blocks. Batmobile scene: No use. III. Batman's Moves ------------------- This section discusses the moves Batman has in 3D action scenes. His moves are very limited in both 2D action scenes and the Batmobile scene, and have already been outlined above. Punch - Press the Y button when Batman is standing to throw a straight punch for minor damage. Standing combo - Press the Y button repeatedly. When Batman hits an enemy with a straight punch, he will then go into a standing combo consisting of two punches, a knee to the mid-section, and finally a spin kick that knocks down. The whole combo does good damage and can hit multiple enemies on the same side, but the time it takes to execute can cause Batman to be hit from behind. Jump kick - Press the B button to jump and then while in the air, press the Y button to kick. Batman can do this move while jumping straight up or jumping forward. It knocks down, but causes minor damage. Grab - Maneuver Batman so that he touches an enemy and he will grab that enemy. While the enemy is grabbed, Batman can do the following moves: Slam - Press left + Y or right + Y to cause Batman to slam the enemy to the ground for decent damage. Grab combo - Press Y repeatedly to cause Batman to hit the enemy twice and then finish with a spin kick. You can interrupt this combo at any time with a Slam. Batman also has several Power Moves that cause high damage, but can only be done at certain times. They are: Cape Sweep - Pressing B and Y at the same time causes Batman to spin around with his cape extended, hitting enemies on both sides. Unfortunately, Batman loses a small amount of energy after using this move, so use it only when you're sure you would take more damage by not doing it. Building Slam - If Batman grabs an enemy and there is a building in the near background, press up + Y to throw the enemy at the building. This will also hit any other enemies that happen to be standing in the path of the thrown enemy. You can break windows with this maneuver, too. Head Butt - If Batman manages to grab two enemies on either side of him, press Y to slam their heads together, causing high damage and knockdowns. It can be difficult to do this move however. Test Tube - Press and hold L or R to block. Then while in your blocking stance, press X to throw a Test Tube to the ground and shatter it. This causes an explosion that takes up the whole screen, and kills most normal enemies and damages bosses. Because you only have three uses per level however, they are best saved for bosses. IV. Walkthrough --------------- There are seven different levels in this game, with multiple areas in each. You know you've passed into a new area when the screen goes white and the Batman symbol appears. You progress to the next level by beating the boss of the level you're on. Some levels have a couple bosses, and you'll have to beat both of them before moving on. This walkthrough was written on the Easy difficulty setting. More difficult settings have more and tougher enemies, and more powerful bosses, as well as different and better endings. I may outline the differences between settings in future revisions of this FAQ. Level 1-1 Type: 3D action scene This level begins with people running in fear from the Red Triangle Circus Gang. Go to the right and you will meet your first enemy, the Thin Clown. He has only one attack, a punch. When in groups, they try to surround you. Kill them with standing combos. Moving on you'll find a Biker going around in circles. Stand on the edge of his circle and punch him as he goes by to kill him. Then you'll run into a Biker who goes all the way across the screen and back. Line up with him and jump kick him a few times to kill him. You'll next run into a Bazooka Clown. Some of them fire one shot and then leave, others hang around. You can dodge the shot pretty easily (even causing it to hit other clowns) and if you can't dodge it, you can block it instead. To kill Bazooka clowns, walk over to their side of the screen while staying above or below, then move up or down and grab them. After some more Bazookas and Thins, you'll find a small Heart. This partially restores your life meter. You'll also meet up with a Fire Clown who has two attacks. He can thrust forward with his fire stick, or blow fire at medium range ahead of him. He stops momentarily before either attack, so you can see them coming. There's another Heart a little ways further, and you'll also meet up with Fat Clowns. Their attack is easy to avoid, just stay out of their way when they jump and hit them when they land. After some more Bikers and Fats, and grabbing a Heart in a mailbox, this area ends. Level 1-2 Type: 2D Action Scene Walk to the right and fight through the steady stream of Thin Clowns. They also sometimes attack from behind so be careful. You'll meet up with Tall Clowns who throw sets of fire sticks. Either jump and shoot him from out of his range, or run underneath a set of fire sticks and get close to him, then jump and punch him. Either way works. Fat Clowns bounce along in this level. You can try to kill them (they take 2 hits), or run underneath them when they bounce. At the end of this level is the Stungun Clown. He has a couple of different attacks, rolling and jumping. Jump and run under accordingly. Also use your Test Tubes; they get replenished at the end of the level. After beating him, the level ends. Level 2-1 Type: 3D Action Scene At the start of this level are some Thin Clowns, and also a few barrels that have a Test Tube and Points. A little ways further is a Juggling Clown that tosses bowling pins at you. Take him on the same way you take on Bazookas. A little ways further is a clown in the background who tosses Dynamite into the street. After doing so, he becomes a Thin clown. Just avoid the Dynamite until it goes off. Fight your way through more Fats and Thins and you'll find a Heart. Next you'll meet up with Knife Throwers who, um, throw knives. Deal with them and the Thins and you'll find some Points. Keep going and you'll find clowns in the street that walk towards you and throw dynamite. Avoid it and then pummel the clowns. After some more Bikers, Thins, Jugglers and Fires, the area ends. Level 2-2 Type: 2D Action Scene Walk to the escalator and ride up it. If you see a Thin Clown jump up and shoot him before he slides down. Stand still and Fat Clowns will bounce over your head. When you reach the top of the escalator, walk to the right. When you pass by the elevators, Thin Clowns and people exit out of them. Keep going and the building will be set on fire. Go right, jumping through the falling fire and killing Tall Clowns. You'll come to a part where you'll need to grapple to the right repeatedly to get over the flaming floor. At one point you'll have to grapple back to the left for a second so that part of the ceiling can fall. Keep going right and you'll beat this area and get back to the street. Level 2-3 Type: 3D Action Scene Out here you'll meet Sword Swallowers for the first time. They're sorta like Fire Clowns with their attack. Bash your way through Swords, Bazookas, and Thins, and open the Barrels that have Points and a Heart. Keep going through more Swords and Fats. Then there will be some Thins and Dynamites, followed by more Thins, Fats, and Bazookas. The Fats may try to jump from the bench to the street, so stay out of their way. There's also a Heart here. After some more Thins, you'll meet the boss, the Strongman. He is accompanied by some Thins during this battle. Whenever you see Thins and Strongman together, use a Test Tube. Otherwise, don't. Strongman has a powerful punch and a couple other attacks, but he's not that difficult. You should have him beat pretty easily. Level 3-1 Type: 2D Action Scene At the start of this level you're riding up an outside elevator. Thins and Fats will break through the windows as you're going up. Stand in the middle of the elevator, and whenever a Fat breaks through, move to the opposite side, then attack to knock him off. The Thins are easy to kill as they try to climb up onto the elevator. When this elevator stops, grapple to the right to a second one. Ride this one up, beating the same enemies, and exit this area. Level 3-2 Type: 2D Action Scene Go right until you find a place to drop down. Drop to the bottom level and go right until you reach the end of the platform. Grapple to the right until you get to the next platform. Jump up the stairs to the right and you will start riding up a beam. Watch out for falling Dynamite, and kill the Talls, Thins, and Bazookas that attack. If you stay ducked, you can avoid most attacks. After the ride, grapple to the right to end the area. Level 3-3 Type: 3D Action Scene Here is the first fight with Catwoman. She has several different attacks. The first one is to attack with her whip. You can see this coming. The second one is to kick straight out. This is a little faster. She also does a claw attack where she backs up a little before she charges forward. And finally she has one where she does multiple backflips before charging back and forth at high speeds. This is difficult to avoid and does lots of damage. Try to approach from an angle and grab her, then pummel her with a combo. And use your Test Tubes here as well. Level 4-1 Type: 3D Action Scene This short area takes place inside a dark building. Some Thins and Fats will drop on you from above. You can see their shadows as they fall down, unless it's in a dark spot, then you can't. Fight your way through them all and go to the next area. Level 4-2 Type: 3D Action Scene This is a different floor of the dark building. Here you will fight Thins, Fires, and Swords. They don't drop on you from above this time. Try not to grab the enemies as others can attack you if you do. Get through this equally short area and go to the next. Level 4-3 Type: 3D Action Scene Here you fight Catwoman again. She has the same attacks as before, except she doesn't do the multiple backflip attack this time. Therefore, she's easier. Beat her the same way, but don't use your Test Tubes yet. Level 4-4 Type: 2D Action Scene This is your first encounter with the Penguin. His attacks include flying around while dropping explosive umbrellas. Stay away from them while ducking underneath the Penguin if you need to. He'll also toss some umbrellas off the side of the screen which return. You'll have to duck under these. Then he himself goes off the top of the screen and then flies in from the side. When you hit him as he's flying in he moves up a little, so you have to hit him enough times so that he flies over you. This can be difficult since he can come from either side, so you may want to use a Test Tube when he does this. Otherwise jump up and shoot him whenever you can and you'll eventually beat him. Level 5-1 Type: Batmobile Scene In this scene, Batman is in his Batmobile racing forward at a mind- boggling speed. This is basically kind of like an obstacle course. The first thing you encounter will be bikers that just race past you on one side and go back on the other. Just stay in the center and shoot them when they pass the middle. Next there will be packs of bikers with a space in between them. You have to pass through this space. Stay in the center of the road for the easiest time. Next will be bikers that pass by you and turn around and shoot bazookas. Avoid the shots and shoot the bikers. After some more bikers will be powerful ones that shoot bazookas. You have to shoot these guys a lot of times before they die. Then there will be a small break in the action where you can pick up point symbols as they go by. Get as many as you can. Then you will have to deal with more bazooka bikers while also maneuvering through biker packs. Finally after some more bazookas you'll encounter the Campain Vehicle. This guy has tough armor and two different attacks. The first one is a couple of bazooka shots which you can avoid pretty easily. The second one is tossing dynamite sticks onto three of the four lanes of the road. Obviously try to stay in the lane that doesn't have any dynamite. Just keep pounding away while avoiding the attacks and you'll win. Level 6-1 Type: 3D Action Scene This area takes place on top of a moving train. You can't fall off, fortunately. Go to the right and fight through Fats, Knifes, and Jugglers. Then you'll encounter Dynamite Clowns and also a biker who rides alongside the train while tossing dynamite up onto it. Avoid it while fighting through the Thins. Next will be more Dynamites, Jugglers, and Fires to beat through. After them the train will pass under barriers that you need to jump over. Fortunately the barriers will knock over most of your enemies, so you don't even need to fight them. When the building appears in the background, that's when the barriers stop coming. Now fight through Knifes, Thins, Fires, Jugglers, and Swords all the way to the end of the train. At the end is a heart, then you'll jump off the stopped train. Level 6-2 Type: 3D Action Scene Here is the Organ Grinder boss. He is accompanied by Thins, so use your Test Tubes when they're together until you run out of them. Then avoid his two attacks, one is a standard swing with his weapon, the other is when he puts it down and turns the crank, shooting bullets out of it. Fortunately, the bullets are indiscriminate and can kill the Thins as well. (Does this remind anyone of the Edi.E battle in Final Fight?) Approach him from above or below and do grab combos to wear him down and eventually kill him. Level 7-1 Type: 3D Action Scene This is the final action scene with normal enemies. Don't give up now, you're almost there. First fight your way through Dynamite Clowns and Bazookas. Next take on some more Bazookas and Bikers. After that are some Fires and more Bikers. Then you'll fight some Thins while being surrounded by Penguins in the foreground and background. These Penguins have rockets attached to their back, which they launch once. Watch the shadows to see where the rockets land, or you can just stand still and block until it's over. There will be several screens of Penguins as you fight through Thins, Fats, Fires, and Swords. At the end are some Swords, Thins and a lot of Knifes. Beat your way through them all to reach the end of this area. Level 7-2 Type: 2D Action Scene Now you get to fight the Duck Vehicle. It has two attacks. In the first one the duck raises up and the whole vehicle moves towards you. Jump into the space between the wooden part and the duck and move to the other side of it. It does this several times before doing its second attack. The duck raises up just a little and fires four rockets that come down in different spots. Best bet here is probably just to block one of the rockets. Jump up and shoot the duck between attacks to cause damage. Don't use Test Tubes here. Level 7-3 Type: 3D Action Scene This is the final battle with the Penguin. He starts off with two attacks. In the first one he shoots out a small fire stream from his umbrella that you can avoid pretty easily. In the second one he moves up or down while shooting bullets out of his umbrella. Stay above or below him and do grab combos. After a while he does a third attack where he floats around and shoots explosive umbrellas. Use a Test Tube when you see him start to float, and he'll be knocked down and go back to the first two attacks. Once you beat him, you win. In future revisions I will probably illustrate the differences between skill levels. However, I do not know when I will have time to do this, since I move back to college this week and I don't bring my SNES to college. So it may be some time. Also, once you beat the game on the Mania skill level, a new difficulty setting called Special opens up. Beat the game on Special for the best ending. V. Disclaimer This FAQ is copyright 1999 by Joshua Harring. It may not be reproduced without my permission, whether on paper or electronically. However, if you'd like to post it on a website, feel free to do so as long as you write it in its entirety, including this disclaimer. No money may be made off this FAQ through sale - this FAQ is entirely free. Thanks to CJayC of Gamefaqs.com for his outstanding and everyday work on his fabulous site.